Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(37)

“And I’m Ro.”

The man with the British accent wasn’t much shorter than Gray, but his blue eyes twinkled, giving him a less scary vibe.

“Don’t forget me!” the last man said. “I’m Meat. Well, my name is actually Hunter, but these lugs call me Meat. I’m working on tracking down your belongings. It should be fairly simple, and—”

“Meat,” Arrow warned.

The other man looked sheepish but kept grinning. “Sorry. Welcome home, Morgan.”

“Thanks.”

“Can we please get off the porch now?” Ro asked.

Chloe leaned toward Morgan and stage-whispered, “He’s a little paranoid. But I can’t blame him since the Mafia basically blew up part of his house to get to me.”

“The Mafia?” Morgan asked, her eyes wide.

“Inside,” Ro insisted.

Chloe winked at Morgan, and despite her words, she relaxed a bit. If the woman had been kidnapped by the Mafia and had such an amazing attitude about it, she admired the heck out of her already. Hoping to be as much like Chloe as she could about her own situation, Morgan followed the group inside.



A few hours later, Arrow kept his eyes on Morgan as she smiled and joked with Allye and Chloe. They were in the kitchen putting away dishes and seemed to be having the time of their lives, giggling and laughing as if they’d known each other for years rather than just a few hours.

He hadn’t been sure about bringing Morgan over here on her first night back, but it seemed she’d been right. She was definitely more relaxed than he’d seen her before. She’d hit it off immediately with the other two women, not that he’d doubted she would. They were very likable, and because they had so much in common, it was no wonder they took to one another.

But Arrow could also see the stress of the day catching up with Morgan by the lines in her forehead. She had a headache, but refused to admit it.

“She seems to be doing amazing,” Gray noted quietly.

“I think she’s buried a lot of what happened to her,” Arrow said. “Time will tell how she does when it all hits her.”

“She’s going to be okay,” Ro said. “She’s strong.”

“That doesn’t mean she isn’t going to need help,” Arrow retorted.

“I didn’t say it did. You’re right, she is going to need help. It’s going to take a while for her to fully trust again. She’ll need to talk to someone about what happened to her, but she’s going to make it. I can tell,” Ro said.

“I’ve done some research on the people in her life,” Meat said. “We need to talk about them.”

“Not tonight,” Arrow said.

“Of course not,” the other man said. “But it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Maybe after the press conference tomorrow.”

“Are we going to talk about that?” Black asked.

“I’ll talk to her in the morning,” Arrow volunteered. “She’s about at the end of her rope tonight.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Ball replied. Then added, “You like her.”

“What?”

“You like her,” he repeated.

“Of course I do. She’s amazing,” Arrow said.

“Don’t be afraid to go after her,” Gray said. “I made the mistake of thinking nothing could happen between me and Allye because she was an op. Then I made the mistake of thinking I knew what was best for her without even talking to her about it.”

“Yeah, Morgan’s already set me straight on that front,” Arrow mused.

“I knew I liked her for some reason,” Gray teased.

“Until we figure out who wanted her gone, she can’t go back to Atlanta,” Meat said.

“What are her options?” Ro asked.

“She could stay with her mom in New Mexico, stay with her dad in a hotel here, although he’ll need to go back to Georgia soon, as he’s got his business there, or she could stay here in Colorado Springs,” Meat said.

“Speaking of her mom, do we know when she’s going to show?” Gray asked.

“Rex told me he called Ellie Jernigan yesterday, and she said she’d be here in Colorado Springs tomorrow. She had to work today, but got the next few days off,” Black said.

“When and where?” Arrow asked. He wanted to make sure Morgan knew. The last thing he wanted to do was blindside her. He knew she was anxious to see her mom, as they seemed to be close, but she’d had an emotional few days and needed the heads-up.

“Not sure. I’ll call and find out. Maybe she can come to The Pit and meet us there tomorrow after the news conference?” Black suggested. “I know she doesn’t get along with her ex, so it’s probably better if we kept them apart in front of the media.”

Arrow figured that for the sake of their daughter, Carl and Ellie could probably be civil, but he wasn’t going to push it. Maybe they could ask Dave, The Pit’s bartender, to close the place briefly, in case things with Morgan’s parents got out of hand. “That sounds good.”

“I like her, man,” Gray said softly.

Arrow grinned at his friend. “I’m glad, but honestly, I wouldn’t give a shit if you didn’t.”